Work in progress for Kiran Rao's next

Even before Mrs Aamir Khan’s directorial debut hits cinemas, she’s already sorting ideas for her next movie. Kiran Rao admits she has been working for a while on a couple of ideas, one of which is on Hindustani classical music.

Even before Mrs Aamir Khan’s directorial debut hits cinemas, she’s already sorting ideas for her next movie. Kiran Rao admits she has been working for a while on a couple of ideas, one of which is on Hindustani classical music.

“It’s about the turn of the century performers, vocal singers. I’m trying to weave that into a bigger story. Let’s see how it turns out, then I’ll be in a better position to talk about it,” she adds.

When asked if she would ever divert attention to a commercial movie, she asserts that she hopes to do so but since she doesn’t haven’t it in

her DNA, she’ll have to make a lot of effort to write something commercial.

Point out the stark difference between the subjects of her films and the films she previously assisted on, and Rao reasons that her interests are different.

“My influences are not commercial. World cinema, literature, arts and music have inspired me more than the mainstream. When I started scripting

Dhobi Ghat

, I didn’t know what it would turn out to be. But I had an instinct that it wouldn’t be a song and dance film. I relate better with alternate story telling style,” she argues.

Rao’s directorial debut is already among the most eagerly awaited films of the next year. Quiz her if it’s husband-filmmaker, Aamir Khan’s penchant for perfection that has rubbed off on her, she says, “It’s his passion for his work. I’m just as passionate. I make a film to find my artistic voice. I have to admit that I’ve learnt perfection and detailling from him.”

For the lady director, her husband is the engine of ideas as far as marketing is concerned but she also didn’t want people to think

Dhobi Ghat

was only Aamir Khan’s project. “I want people to have an idea of my thought process too. I want people to know me as an individual too,” she adds.

Since every film that her husband touches upon, bears his stamp, isn’t Rao perturbed about her directorial debut being perceived as an Aamir Khan movie? “Aamir works on a film with such love and passion that the audience really knows it will take something from it, home. He becomes their reason to watch a movie,” says Rao. “That’s why a lot of directors want to work with him. I’m proud of the Aamir Khan badge.”